The case of Petrashevists is a matter of a progressively-minded group of young people whose views were very heterogeneous. They studied and promoted the social-utopian Western thought of the 19th century, and only a few of them had revolutionary intentions. Representatives of the Petrashevsky society were convicted in 1849. We will talk about how this happened in our article.
People of different views.
The activities of the Petrashevsky circle occupy a prominent place in the liberation movement of the mid-19th century. The founder of this circle was Butashevich-Petrashevsky Mikhail Vasilievich. He served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was a graduate of Moscow University. He was distinguished by talent and sociability.
In his spacious apartment in St. Petersburg on a winter Friday evening in 1845, a diverse audience began to gather. These were literary men, teachers, students, petty officials, and later military youth of advanced views.
Among the participants in the Petrashevsky case there were representatives of the radical wing, the most prominent figures of them were Speshnev, Mombelli, Durov, Kashkin and Akhsharumov. Subsequently, they organized their circles and meetings, the scale of which was smaller.
Famous names
On Friday nights Petrashevsky was attended by famous people of that time, such as writers Saltykov-Shchedrin, Pleshcheev, poet Maykov, artist Fedotov, composers Glinka and Rubinstein.
Particularly famous is the connection between the cases of Petrashevsky and Dostoevsky F.M. He was convicted among other Petrashevists and was also subjected to civil execution, which made a great impression on him, influencing his future fate as a person and writer.
It should be noted that sometimes Petrashevsky visited both N. Chernyshevsky and even L. N. Tolstoy himself. Every season new people came and the composition of the meeting participants expanded significantly over time.
The start of the circle
The circle of Mikhail Petrashevsky was not framed as an organization. At the beginning of activity, it was rather a literary circle. Until the beginning of 1848, he was semi-legal and had an educational character.
The main role in it belonged to self-education, as well as the exchange of opinions regarding novelties of fiction, scientific literature, socio-political, economic and philosophical systems. The attention of Petrashevists was attracted by the then widespread socialist teachings in Europe. Petrashevsky himself set the tone for these meetings.
Shaping attitudes
The views of Petrashevsky and the members of his circle were formed thanks to the influence of the ideas of Saint-Simon and Fourier, the French utopian socialists. They collected at their own expense an extensive collection of books that were banned in Russia. It contained books of most Western enlighteners, socialists, and the most recent philosophical works.
It was this library that served as the main bait for visitors to "Fridays." In particular, Petrashevsky and many of his comrades were interested in the problems of the socialist structure of society.
Dictionary of foreign words
In order to propagate the ideas of materialism and socialism, the Petrashevists published a dictionary that contained many foreign words that had never been used in Russian before. In this way, they were able to express the ideas of Western socialists, as well as to expose almost all the articles of the French constitution, adopted in the revolutionary era in the XVIII century.
To initially veil the true meaning of the dictionary, Petrashevsky found a well-intentioned publisher, and dedicated the book itself to Mikhail Pavlovich, the Grand Duke. The first issue came in April 1845. V. G. Belinsky quickly responded to it, giving the dictionary a positive review, advising everyone to buy it. The second issue came out a year later, but almost the entire circulation was soon withdrawn from circulation.
New people
Beginning in the winter of 1846-1847, the nature of the meetings changes markedly; there is a transition from the analysis of novelties in literature and science to the discussion of urgent socio-political problems and criticism of the tsarist regime.
In connection with these changes, the members of the circle with the most moderate views began to move away from him. But at the same time, new people joined the visitors of the “Fridays”, who adhered to radical views, advocating the use of violent measures to overthrow the existing regime. Among them were Debu, Grigoriev, Pal, Filippov, Tol, Yastrzhembsky.
Political program
Gradually, the future participants in the Petrashevsky case worked out a political program, the main plans of which were:
- The introduction of republican rule with a parliament having one chamber.
- Formation of an electoral system to fill all government posts.
- Equality of all members of society before the law.
- Extension of voting rights to all segments of the population, without exception.
- The introduction of freedom of speech, press and movement.
At the same time, representatives of the radical wing, which was headed by Streshnev, proposed to implement a program of transformations using measures of a violent nature. A moderate wing, which included Petrashevsky himself, suggested the possibility of a peaceful path.
Secret organization
In the winter of 1848-49, during the meetings, revolutionary problems were already discussed, and the future political structure of the Russian state was discussed. In the spring, the participants in the Petrashevsky case not only began to create a secret organization, but also drafted a proclamation that was intended for the soldiers and was called the “Soldier Talk”. Members of the organization bought a printing press for organizing a secret printing house.
However, the activities of the circle were interrupted. The fact is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an agent to Petrashevists who gave written reports, setting out in detail all that was discussed at the meetings.
Arrest and trial
04/23/1849 at night the Petrashevists were arrested at their apartments and first taken to the III division, and after the first interrogations - to the Peter and Paul Fortress. In total, 122 people were involved in investigative actions in the Petrashevsky case.
They were tried by a military court, which was actually discovered only "conspiracy of minds." The case file states that a handful of young insignificant and immoral people dreamed of the possibility of violating the sacred rights of law, religion and property. That is, no action was taken by Petrashevists.
At the same time, many were punished in the Petrashevsky case for disseminating Belinsky’s ideas set forth in a letter to Gogol, or for not informing about the meetings — nothing more. However, the sentences handed down were quite severe - the 21st person was threatened with execution.
Staging the execution
Emperor Nicholas I could not confirm the death sentence, but this was not reported to the convicts. Thus, they were forced to survive terrible minutes in anticipation of the death penalty. Her re-enactment took place on December 22, 1849 in St. Petersburg on Semenovskaya Square.
The death sentence was read by the sentenced, they put white caps on their heads. Under the shots of drums after the command, they were taken by soldiers under the gun. After this, the adjutant wing read out the order to abolish the execution.
Remembering this day, F. M. Dostoevsky wrote that, in anticipation of the death, the Petrashevists spent 10 minutes, which he called terrible, immensely scary. Those who stood at the leadership of the circle were sent to Siberia for hard labor, Dostoevsky was among them. The rest were sent to the arresting companies.